The Caverns

Got into Carlsbad at about 11:52. That's New Mexico time, those of us who are from Texas had the feeling it was a little more like 12:52. Pulled into the Best Western and rolled around to our two rooms. It was old school but the beds were comfy. Ace slept with me and around 2:00 I woke up to discover that he was sleeping with his feet on his pillow, I tried to turn him around but he was sleeping angry. At around 4:00 he got cold and turned himself around and got in the covers. I woke up every hour or so and gave up around 7:00 to find Charlie loitering outside our door with bedhead. Everyone slept well and after a little free breakfast boo-fay as John likes to call it, we headed to the Caverns. We got there just shy of the 10:00 guided tour so we had to do the self-guided tour.

When they say the tour is "strenuous" they're not just whistling Dixie. Like a workout you start and after twenty minutes you think "Crap, what have I done, I can't finish this." As we started down the main walkway down into the Cavern and Peach started to cry and said she'd changed her mind and didn't want to go in the cave, I was right there with her. But we persisted through the scary decline and the smell of bat poo. For the record, it was cool and awesome and all that, don't get me wrong...but after you've seen the first hour of stalactites the next hour and a half becomes an exercise in not scaring the crap out of yourself thinking about possible earthquakes or cave ins. And all I wanted to know about the history of Carlsbad Caverns was, "How many people have died in here?" Melee' and I hugged with joy when we finally made it to the elevator that took us back out. (I'll have to show ya'll the pics at a later date as I forgot to pack my cord. But we're not lamenting anything we forgot to bring. Charlie said so.)

The other thing that happened right as we walked into the cave was that I discovered I didn't have my phone. I didn't know if I had dropped it, or left it in the car. The most upsetting thing about that was that I cannot tell you how many steps I walked in Carlsbad Caverns, I'm a little addicted to the pedometer feature of me cell phone. It was safe and sound in the car when we got back. I spent the next hour and a half tapping my phone up and down on my knee to try to simulate how many steps I might have taken, but it's ruined. And I can pretty much say that was probably my one shot at the Caverns.

We're back on the road at 5:58 New Mexico time, my watch says it's 6:58 Texas time and the borrowed GPS says we will arrive in Tempe AZ at 10:04, but I don't know if Arizona time is another hour off. I'm starting to get confused. If I'm right, that would be 12:04 a.m. Texas time. Praise God Charlie likes to drive!